Life Outside a Ghetto : The Birth of the Jewish Religious Community in the Region of Frýdek and Místek
Abstract
Recent research on the life of Jews in Moravia and Silesia living before 1848 outside the Jewish communities is focused primarily on answering the question, what are the consequences of tightening and lightening of the restrictions against Jews for the multitude, territorial enlargement and form the legal status of the Jewish population. However, this article pays attention also to other aspects of the life of Jews living outside the ghetto, especially to the communal religious life of Jews in the Frýdek and Místek Region.
During the realization of the communal religious life, the desire of religious people to share their faith interfered with their effort to earn living outside a ghetto. This article also traces the territorial specific of the Jewish life in this area, particularly the importance of the Jewish restaurants - built for Jewish merchants from Galicia - for the religious life and the livelihood of the local Jews.